Through Lennon, psychedelic music was most prevalent in the late 60’s counterculture hippie era, taking form in perennial projects such as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon.

The long-forgotten genre, however, has made its way back on the musical shore as of recent years, with Parker being the main catalyst luring it forward into the mainstream.  Through his pedal guitar, warping synthesizers, and mesmerizing vocals, he has blended psychedelia with rock and pop in pure elegance.

Parker is most notably known as front man of Tame Impala. Started solely as a home recording project, Parker and company have released three studio albums and have been touring around the world. Awarded album of the year (Currents) and song of the year (Let It Happen) at the ARIA awards, Tame Impala has gravitated into the musical spotlight of the world.

Despite being a five member band on tour, the soul of the music flows from Parker himself. Responsible for writing, recording, and mixing their 3 studio masterpieces, Parker has approached music from a solitary state of mind from the beginning, finding the most creative solace when working solo.

“To be able to access that part of myself, I have to be totally in my own zone and in my own head.” he reflected in a diymag interview.

It is through these getaways that Parker has been able to connect with his creativite solace and let the musical gods take care of the rest. Pouring his style into groovy rhythms and funkadelic melodies, he has refined his sound to such a high degree that the collective ears of the world cant help but ooze with gratitude anytime his music starts pouring out.

He has always sonically expressed psychedelia through guitar, incorporating a petal to warp and drag his riffs. It hasn’t been until his most recent studio album Currents where he has begun to bring ambient, trippy synthesizers into the mix to express his sound to an even fuller extent.

Through the progression of his three debut studio albums, Parker has slowly gravitated towards the mainstream but maintained that classic Tame Impala groove and psychedelic tone. “In my opinion Tame Impala’s always been super-groovy” Parker reflected on his music with an interview with independent magazine.

“I just imagined, what if I did something where a DJ could play it and keep the dancefloor going but you could also listen to it in your bedroom with headphones? Combining those two environments for music was really important to me – music being danceable but also something you can disappear into.”

Creating a disco vibe rhythm alongside an ambient soundscape, his music is a window of escape, whether that’s on the dancefloor or the confines your mind.

Within a few years, Parker has transitioned from pure solo work to becoming a musical empire. Now headlining music festivals, remixing hit song’s such as Miguel’s “Waves”, and working alongside producer Mark Runson, he has learned to shed his introspective skin and move into the collective world of music. Lending vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation, his defiant sound bleeds out in collaboration as well.

Through Runson, Parker has found himself working alongside female pop superstars. Lady Gaga has credited him as a musical genius for his input with lyrics, production, guitar, and drums on her most recent album Joanne. Reflecting on helping her lyrically on her hit song “Perfect Illusion”, Parker couldn’t help but be thrown off by the extroverted transition he had gone through since his beginning days as a musician.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever had that out in the open – normally that whole conversation just happens inside my head. It was quite a weird sensation.”

Kevin Parker is a sonic echosystem, recycling and feeding musical nutrients to artists across musical genres and ideas. “New Person, Same Mistakes”, the concluding song on Currents was featured on Donald Glover’s FX show Atlanta and covered by Rihanna on her most recent studio album Anti.  On top of it all, news is spreading via Pitchfork that he is working on an album with SZA.

This dude is undeniably talented, gradually bringing that new wave psychedelia to the musical shore and slowly infusing it into the mainstream. With his wavy long hair, hypnotic vocals, and psychedelic art, he has created the perfect experience for John Lennon’s soul to inhabit.

Cat’s out of the bag, Lennon.

The post Art Anatomy: Artist Bio — Kevin Parker appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Noname performed alongside her backup band consisting of the keys, bass, drums, guitar, and two backup vocalists. The lights for the show were simple, consisting of two contrasting colors at a time. They worked very well with each individual song, creating a unique ambiance to each.

Being a hip hop influenced show, it was an interesting venue to see this type of performance since the theater is strictly seating. However, Noname had no problem working with the venue and crowd with her laid back approach to art.

The audience was filled with a diverse range of personalities, but all seemed to be very hipster and into the show. Most of the people there seemed to be a college student and more on the artsy, theatric persona.

Noname was lounging in a sweater and some sweatpants, adding more to the cozy vibe of the show. You can tell she was a little under the weather for the show, as she seemed a little low on energy and had to pause throughout the performance for cough breaks. Regardless, it didn’t prevent her from giving her heart and soul to the crowd.

Noname has a very unique style to her. I’d say her music is at the intersection of smooth jazz, hip hop, and soul. The expression in which she rhymes is very poetic and jumpy, sounding as if she was reading her lines out of a notebook.

She constantly had her hands moving with her flow, adding more to her expressive character. She was very interactive with the crowd on a collective and individual level, constantly getting us involved with clapping and cracking jokes throughout the show.

She has a contagious positive energy to her, constantly filling the theater with warm love. Every time she laughed you can feel it reverberate through the audience and heighten the mood of the crowd. She even called us cuties on multiple occasions, expressing her genuine appreciation for everyone who came out to perform. It was as if she and each individual fan were having a vent sesh on their own personal time.

The crowd was bobbing back and forth to the smooth set, trailing her lyrics with their faint input. The show was a bit on the short side, which I was a little thrown off by. As Noname and company left the stage, the buzzing was still so real from the delighted audience, chanting encore insistently but politely. After a minute or so of that, Noname showed up solo and ended the show with some accapella poetic beauty. It was a very intimate way to end the show, as she warmed the crowd with her genuine and authentic vibe through some heart-warming rhymes.

The Tiny Desk Concert post below is a good representation of this beautiful soul’s general character, and is where I got hooked to her art.

The post Concert Review: Noname at The Englert Theatre appeared first on KRUI Radio.

In mid-January 2015, New Zealand native Jaden Parkes went from brainstorming on how to enjoy his routine summer vacation to doing just this. Living the dualistic life of an A&R music manager by day and songwriter/producer by night, he found himself constantly in the presence of musical minds. Aware of the raw talent he was surrounded by, he had a deep appreciation of the fountain of sonic knowledge at his constant expense.

“One thing I’ve always done is try to surround myself with people I’m fans of, people who will make me better at what I’m trying to,” he reflected upon in a Dummymag interview he conducted back in 2015.

Jumping off the philosophy, he decided to gather four of his closest friends and head to a private beach house off the coast of Auckland, hoping to come up with some sort of musical creation during his annual summer holiday.

The eclectic group of musical minds started effortlessly creating. By the time the musicians had left the beach house, they had morphed their beach experience into 10 brand new tracks and were officially a band named LEISURE.

Shortly after, the New Zealand rooted band dropped their self-named debut album “Leisure“, a sonic tapestry of free-flowing rhythms, soothing R&B inspired melodies, and synthesizers with a hint of psychedelic beauty.

Containing a seductive, mellow texture, the piece grounds a groovy rhythm with smooth bass lines and clean drum tracks. Layered on top, the album’s R&B infused melodies ooze with emotion, allowing the liquid vocals to heighten the mood.

Despite the album’s consistent and refined tone, “Leisure“ displays timeless versatility. Recycling elements of funk, indie-pop, and some mean groove, it’s diverse soundscape allows it to accompany any atmosphere or state of mind you may find yourself in. Shifting drum tempos from slow paced and smooth to sharp and upbeat, the album’s shifting pace induces the listener, getting the blood moving and resonating warm emotion.

The album opens up with “Got it Bad,” a song dripping with seduction that lures the listener into their vibe. The opening track embodies a 70s soul lava lamp vibe, highlighted with melt-worthy melodies brought to life with the oozing mantra, “girl you know you got it bad doo doo doo”. The song’s smooth bass drives the track, getting your heart moving in sync with their sound.

The third track “Know You Better” has a crisp, upbeat drum rhythm that gets the album shifted into gear, accompanied by some sharp guitar riffs and keys. The album’s Indie-pop elements shine in this one.  

I want to get to know you better
Float up to another level
Make me feel I found a new height
You and I suspended in time

You get a taste of the album’s funk influence through the bouncy bass line in “Take It To The Top” and hints of psychedelic influence in “Something About You” when they introduce some rippling, hypnotic synthesizers.

Approaching the middle of the album is where you truly begin to get lost in the feels. You can feel the emotion bleeding out in the cathartic tracks of “All Over You, and “Nobody” featuring Goldlink.

“All Over You” is the catalyst of the album. There’s so much raw feeling in this track, as the seductive vocals and funky rhythm harmonize beautifully. Capped off by a psych-driven guitar solo, the track is a four-minute piece of sonic gold.

Major feels.

“Nobody” featuring GoldLink is a soothing serenade that strikes a chord deep within. The ambiant song has a sensual, warm texture driven by its rippling, piercing synthesizers. The smooth vocals and love-infused lyrics radiate the song with soul, reverberating the power of love through the listener’s psyche.

You know, you know you wanna share my world
I got you, I got you where I want you, girl
Take you far away, to a different world, baby

“Leisure” is a soothing album that sonically reflects the mellow sunsets and warm vibe of Parkes and company’s musical retreat. The album’s versatile songs seemlessly interweave to compose a beautiful record, combining elements that harmonize and make the piece suitable for any scene or situation. The mandala of sound drips in seduction and moves with mean groove, luring the listener into an hour long trip to the love dimension.

The post Art Anatomy: Album Review — “Leisure” by LEISURE appeared first on KRUI Radio.

In this workshop,which took place at Merge in Downtown Iowa City, I saw this philosophy in action. Every activity that was conducted for the hour and a half long event incrementally pushed me more and more out of my comfort zone.

From picking up a complete stranger as I guided him through a visualization routine to telling a group of strangers a story where I overcame a personal obstacle, I constantly found myself in a position I’m typically reluctant to enter.

I literally had to tell a complete stranger to envision a ball of gold in his stomach, and shift it to a visualized halo above his head. After he did so, I was told to pick him up and see if he got lighter.

As weird and voodoo as it sounds, my doubtful notions diminished when I picked this nice man Trevor up and he seemed to be twenty pounds lighter. Probably sounds insane from an outside perspective, but I guess you can say it was a you had to be there moment.

As for knowledge, we discussed what it means to take risks, particularly in the creative process. We practiced mechanisms to help cope with risk taking, particularly breathing exercises. A big lesson I brought out of this workshop was how breathing plays such a pivotal role in calming the body in mind when in the face of taking risk.

Typically when you are at the risk of something, breathing becomes choppy, leading to your heart rate increasing and your body kicking into its fear instincts. As a result, we find ourselves extremely uncomfortable when in a position where we are working with the unknown.

To help cope with this anxiety, the workshop stresses to control your breathing. Instead of letting your fear control it, take deep belly breathes. For such a simple process, deep breathing has a profound effect.

As the workshop attendees each took their personal time to focus on lengthening their breaths and directing it to the stomach, it felt as if the air in the room got calmer.

The faces of the people around me got less tense, and an explicit paradigm shift occurred. Some voodoo mechanisms were practiced in this workshop, but there is no denying the magic they entail to the practitioner.

The pivotal lesson ingrained in this workshop is to always stay grounded in authenticity when taking risks, to sit with the emotion, and trust the process. I believe everyone has some sort of creative boundary they can push by taking risks, and this workshop instilled some knowledge as to how to make this happen in reality through personal experience.

The post Witching Hour: Risk-Taking and the Authentic Self @ Merge 10/21/17 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I went into the Witching Hour workshop having the intent of having a relaxing, laid-back time. The description entailed laying on the ground with pillows and a blanket. What did I have to lose?

What I wasn’t expecting was the soul-cleansing, self-transcendent work I would be doing on myself. This workshop had me so deep in my feels, I thought I was never going to come out of them.

For the first fifteen minutes or so, the workshop instructor philosophized on how us humans go through our life journeys all fighting an internal war for peace.

We can’t seem to let go of hard experiences of the past, letting them linger in our present mind and taint our perspective. No matter how much pain it brings, we find ourselves clinging onto repressed memories and emotions instead of simply letting go.

The way he broke down the human condition and the suffering it entails definitely had me deep in reflection. He discussed the spectrum of emotion that life entails. The negative side of this spectrum consists of fear. He stressed how any negative emotion, thought process, or

perception we hold is all rooted in fear.

Since I will be graduating this semester and have been filled with a deep dread and anxiety of what the future holds, this struck a chord deep within me.

The claustrophobic and anxious emotions I’ve been experiencing, the stressful thoughts of finding a job, it all boils down to fear. Fear of the future, fear of the unknown, fear of screwing up, its the causation of all the suffering I find myself under.

It is through its opposing force of love, however, that this fear can be washed away. He stressed the importance of seeing everything as divine. Even though a person, experience, or emotion currently facing you may have a negative feeling connected to it, we must look for the silver lining in it all.

In addition to seeking guidance and insight through love and positivity, some individuals may turn to psychic readings as a way to gain clarity and perspective on their fears and anxieties. While some may be hesitant to try psychic readings due to skepticism or uncertainty, Get a Free Online Psychic Reading and it can be a great way to explore this practice without committing to a full session. By connecting with a trusted and experienced psychic, individuals can receive personalized insights and guidance on how to move forward with confidence and courage. Whether facing a difficult decision, a major life transition or simply seeking a deeper understanding of oneself and the world around us, psychic readings can offer a unique and valuable perspective on our fears and uncertainties.

At the end of the day, we are all still standing strong after all of the hardships we have faced in our past.

Through this workshop, he aimed to tune our collective mind to the all healing love frequency, and to come to peace with ourselves and the outside world. For the past 400 or so years, these giant bronze bells have been the door to the love dimension, getting used by spiritual healers and shamans across the globe.

Regardless of your spiritual views or religious affiliation, you can’t help but feel the power of these gongs. For 45 minutes, I laid back on the Englert Theatre stage, and let these sounds reverberate through my body and mind. If we’re being real here, I completely lost track of time and where I was because I was so washed away by these resonant sounds.

It seemed like a 15 minute experience at tops, and I was literally soaring through my mind and imagination like a madman. It may have been because I was tired and a bit hungover, but that is of course besides the point.

I couldn’t help but feel spiritually cleansed walking out of the Englert theater after this workshop, feeling much lighter on my feet and with a fresh, healthier perspective.

The post Witching Hour : Doorway to Intuition: Gong Bath and Sound Healing Meditation @ Englert Theatre 10/21/2017 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Now imagine this feeling haunting you endlessly since you were working off a PC that was broke as hell and died on you every 30 minutes. Even worse, picture this happening to you in the corner of your parents’ basement as you’re trying to complete and drop your fire mixtape on SoundCloud.

Although the last part is probably completely irrelevant to your experience, there is one person out there that had to live through this tragedy. Kaytranada, or formally known in his basement home as Louis Kevin Celestin, is a Haitian born producer and DJ who was raised in Montreal after he moved there as an infant. Most notoriously known for his debut studio album 99.9%, this man saw his music dreams come alive from a piss-poor PC in a dark corner of his parents’ basement.

It was from a very young age that Kay’s life was consumed by the world of music. Introduced to the art through his dad spinning Michael Jackson and Bob Marley albums in his living room, Kay took a quick obsession to music, looking to get his hands on it in anyway possible. By the time he was only 14 years old, he started producing and mixing his own music.

It hasn’t been a straight path to the top for the dude, as he has fought through the trials and tribulations of a starving artist. Constantly finding himself at a crossroad between following his musical passion or his parents’ demands, Kaytranada decided to take the high road early on.

He recalls in a Complex interview conducted late September (full interview below) the moment he chose to follow his path of passion. Caught in a decision between fulfilling his mother’s wishes of finishing school and touring Europe, he bet all odds against himself and headed across the pond to show his art to the world. Needless to say, he took the road less traveled and hasn’t looked back since.

Within a few years of making this life-changing decision, Kay’s music transcended. Starting from having a Soundcloud presence rooted in his parent’s basement, he soon found himself walking with the stars. Within a few years, he was rewarded the Polaris Music Prize for his debut studio album 99.9% and was collaborating with widely known artists such as Anderson .Paak, Syd, and Vic Mensa. To top it all off, 99.9% was recorded in the basement in which it all began. Somehow, this dude made living in your parents’ basement look cool. Mad props.

Rated as a 8.0 on Pitchfork, Kay’s debut studio 99.9% album embodies a sound that is explicitly unorthodox. Containing drum tracks that are constantly shifting gears and warping, the album produces a sonic vibe that has your ears thrown off by his unique approach to music.

As for structure, the album is an outskirt from typical hip hop or pop projects. One noticable structural element the album contains is songs that are pure instrumentals, something rarely or never found in popular music. By creating songs with this style, his music leaves an abundance of space to let your mind do the work and fill in the lyrical blanks with your personal stream of thought.

Despite his out-of-the box elements, Kaytranada defines himself in the music world through his disco-dance and hip-hop driven elements. In his synth infused track “You’re the One (feat Syd)”, Kay paints a 70’s dance floor type of vibe that makes it impossible not to move to the free flowing groove.

He also lays down some hip-hop influenced, drum driven beats that leave a smooth landing strip for rap artists such as Anderson .Paak and Vic Mensa to drop some fiery vocals over. By fusing these two elements into his style, he contains a sound that can fit multitudes of scenes, ranging from a pre-game to chilling on a beach.

Outside of his great success achieved through his debut studio album, Kaytranada has been touring the world performing at big name festivals such as Lollapalooza, Sasquatch! Music Festival, and Coachella.  For only being 25 years of age, he has already left a lasting imprint in the music world and has been slowly recognized by big producers such as Pharrell Williams.

Looking back at where his music has brought him, Kaytranada was asked for a piece of advice to be given to hungry artists trying to figure out their path.

“If you feel like you’re doing your thing don’t let nobody talk down on you…if you feel driven in your heart and you love what you do more than anything else man just go for it no matter what it is…deep down in your heart you know what you want.”

Coming from a dude who’s dream began taking shape in a broken PC in his parents’ basement, Kaytranada is a walking reflection of these words of wisdom.

The full-length interview with Complex can be found below.

The post Artist Bio: Kaytranada appeared first on KRUI Radio.